How to Make Ginger Ale from Scratch
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- Patreon: / artofdrink
The most common type of ginger ale today is the pale variety, like Canada Dry, but back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the preferred ginger ale was the Belfast variety, which had a spicier taste and more aromatic nose. It was often called for in pre-prohibition cocktails like the Mamie Taylor, Horse's Neck, 20th Century and the variety of highball called a "buck."
The recipe in this video comes from 1888 and was a clone or copycat recipe for imported ginger ale from Ireland. It incorporated hot pepper powder into the extract which gives this ginger ale a pleasant kick of heat and may change the way you think about ginger ale.
*Belfast Ginger Ale Extract Recipe:*
90 grams Ginger Root (powdered)
30 grams Orange Peel
9 grams Nutmeg powder
9 grams Ceylon Cinnamon Powder
6 grams Lime Peel
4 grams Vanilla (powder)
1.5 grams Capsicum
10 drop Cognac Oil (Ethyl Heptanoate) (Optional)
1/8 drop Oil of Rose
Alcohol 95%, enough to collect 8 oz of extract
Percolate for 48 hours or macerate for 2 weeks.
Use 1 oz of extract in 1 litre of simple syrup.
Use 1 oz of the ginger ale syrup in an 8 oz soda.
This product improves with age, so age for a month or more.
#soda #drinks #nonalcoholic
Oh hey its been a year. Time to check back on that extract.
I made this and it turned out great! I used half vodka and half cognac as we can't get everclear here in the UK and I didn't have cognac oil. I only made a 1/4 recipe and subbed the 1/16 drop Rose oil for 1tbsp rosewater and the 1g vanilla pod for 1tsp vanilla extract. I also used fresh sweet orange peel and fresh lime peel. I let it sit for 24 hours then filtered twice, first time through a mesh seive then 2nd time through coffee filter (which took 24 hours changing the filter once) i made a 1.5:1 simple syrup using xlitol, maple syrup and brown etheroytl which added to the authentic colour of the finished product. It definitely needs lime or some acidity but wow it tastes very close to a proper ginger ale! Spicy aftertaste from the cayenne , I wouldn't increase the suggested amount as it was perfect for me.
I'm going to make 2 full batches of this and age one of them. I think I'll try to let the mixture sit for a couple of weeks before filtering this time. I'll use dried bitter orange peel and dehydrate my own lime peel and use the vanilla pod too. Might increase the rosewater slightly, add citric acid and experiment with different sugars and sweeteners. I might add a little fresh ginger juice too but not much. I intend to bottle and pasteurise the finished soda!
Thank you so much for these great vids, very valuable content... I'm looking forward to part 2 and interested to see how it has aged
Just started watching your channel, saw that this was made 11 months ago and that you’re aging it for a year, so I’m excited to see the results of that aging!
Thanks for the reminder and welcome to the channel.
So I was wondering if there is a way to speed up the aging process. I came across a CZcams video (Instantly Age Alcohol - Ultrasonic Treatment) where they added Cognac Barrel Wood Chips to a mason jar with vodka and then put it in a ultrasonic cleaning machine (used for jewelry or watches) for 30 minutes. Turns out it does improve the taste. This made me wonder how it would affect the flavor of ginger extract. As of present, I'm not quite set up to try it myself, so I thought I would bring it to your attention just in case you wanted to try it and compare it to your one year aged ginger extract. It seems the cognac barrel wood chips would work well with ginger ale. I also came across this article by Scott Beers: The Acceleration of Spirits Aging Using Ultrasound. "The result was that the ultrasound treated brandy was declared as good as the brandies aged traditionally over several years."
i just got an entire ginger root (about 3lbs worth) from a store pickup today and I panicked on how I'm gonna use it all. Time to make some mock ale-8! Thanks for the video helped me start my journey
Using those esters separately is super intriguing. I’m off to google to figure out where to find it!
I found a nice recipe from @English Heritage” around the late 1880s or so, if memory serves, from the Townsends when I was really sick with Covid and my intestines were a mess, so just getting anything in my body was challenge.
It was a fermented recipe, and really quite nice. Even my body was happy with it.
This is the first of your videos, and if I get a chance later I may have a look around to see what you’re doing with fermented nonalcoholic beverages. Thank you very much for this one.
Thanks, and just a note that there are no nonalcoholic beverages that are fermented. Cheers
@@Artofdrink : Thank you very much for offering that really important correction. It would especially matter for anyone who needs to have absolutely no alcohol whatsoever in a beverage.
It’s been a while since I’ve made a Gingerale, so while I was waiting to be able to finish a project last night, I made a basic batch, and started a fermenting bug from a different recipe. Once I’ve refresh my memory on the its’ most rudimentary aspects, it’ll be a lot of fun to implement some of the ideas that you’ve offered in this video. It’s a pretty exciting, being able to shake up the recipes for variety.
And the whole idea of ageing the syrup for a soda formulation is really intriguing, So while running errands, I’ll pick up some ingredients to give that whole idea a shot in the next day or two. :)
glad there's CC because i truly couldn't hear
I used to really like Canfields dry ginger ale.
14:38 You said you were going to do an update in a year. Looking forward to seeing how or if it has changed? No pressure 😂.
It is in the works, I have the aged essence, now I have to make a fresh batch to compare to. Soon, I promise.
@@Artofdrink How soon? LOL.
Isn´t there supposed to be some acid? Or did I miss it in the video?
Darcy your 1 year is up! Time to do a follow up video on the aged ginger ale taste
You are correct and I did say I would do it, so I will in the next month or so.
Amazing. This was Belfast recipe but can you please also do a recipe for pale ginger ales like Canada Dry? I have been consuming a lot of Canada Dry and now would rather just make my own at home which atleast would be slightly more healthier.
Thanks!
This explained something for me......I always HATED the cloying sweetness of Canada Dry, and liked the crispness of Schwepps ginger ale, but hated the price.
And yeah, there are people in life who feel the difference of fifty cents between one product and another. We poor crave luxuries more than you do, as relief from our misery.
I once bought a can of expensive "Ginger Beer".....when tasted, I literally SPIT it out of my mouth. IT felt like someone stabbed my tongue with a steak knife of heat and BITTER. Now I have some idea why.
Thanks again for sharing via the video format, it is really helpful to see this view in addition to the descriptions in the book. With respect to citrous zest, I am surprised that the dried product is similar or equivalent to fresh. Are the citrous oils effectively trapped in the dried peels? Is that generally true in your experience, or is it that the results taste different but are equally interesting?
Fresh citrus (fresh any herb or spice actually) is a modern construct. If you take curaçao/triple sec it was always made with dried orange peel, because it was typically shipped long distances, plus buyers didn’t want to pay for “water weight.” The key citrus oils are not particularly volatile so dried peel has plenty of oil for extraction. As for flavour, most likely very similar though I’ve never done a side-by-side comparison.
@@Artofdrink That makes a lot of sense, thank you.
This is such an excellent video, thank you so much Darcy! I wonder why you extracted the oils yourself in this case when essential oils of ginger, orange, lime, nutmeg and cinnamon are so cheap and readily available! You're using oil of rose here, but during my research I've stumbled upon something called "rose hydrolate", which seems to be a water-soluble product created from steam distilled roses. Have you ever used hydrolate, do you notice any differences to the oil and would you recommend one over the other?
我也在尝试这个食谱。我替换了柠檬皮和青柠皮为精油 0.5ml和0.1ml人造康酿克油0.1ml肉桂和豆蔻使用粉末，我觉得提取物应该能获得更多的味道。而精油大多数时候是气味。因为有些味道在精油提取的时候就遗失了，比如蒸馏，一些味道会水解在里面溶解到水中。我没有使用柠檬皮因为我不想要更多的苦味，豆蔻已经拥有一点点了，对于我来说刚刚好。然后玫瑰纯露是提取玫瑰精油的副产品，里面玫瑰风味的含量是没有精油浓度高的。提取物是最原始的味道。比如可口可乐的调味全都使用精油，但古柯提取物才是它正真的味道。
Hello,
Thank you, I just discovered your channel and it helps me a lot to answer many things. I'm looking to make a good ginger ale on keg. I will try your recipe.
Small question:
If I make the syrup - soda mixture in a cornelius keg and carbonate the mixture. Do you think it will stay stable? Or is it recommended to make the mixture at the last minute?
It is generally best to add the syrup to a glass of soda water, though you can do it in a keg. The key benefit of adding the syrup to the glass is cleaning, with just soda water in the keg it remains clean and less likely to develop off flavours. Plus it will save you time, instead of cleaning. But if that doesn't bother you, you can definitely mix the syrup in the keg.
@@Artofdrink Thank for you response, The kegwill be stored in the cold. My idea is to reduce the handling to serve...
What worries me more is that the oils do not stay homogeneous in the ale ginger soda and end up rising. Have you ever tried it?
@@olivierhuens5569 I haven't tried kegging a finished soda. I do prefer to add the syrup directly to the glass because in a keg you can't see the separation, as you noted. Modern soda companies have access to better equipment (high shear mixers and homogenizers) that lets them create stable products, though this equipment is very expensive. I'm not sure we can duplicate that level of stability, though it is something I'm exploring.
Turns out there are a lot of kinds of oil of rose and of cognac oil. Which is food grade and which are the ones you use? Help!!!
Is there any way by which we can increase the concentration of flavours per ml of alcohol used and can we use 20% glycerine in mixture with vodka for extraction?
Time to talk again. It has been a year.
Please do a Rootbeer episode. I'm eagerly awaiting your knowledge on it.
Just letting you know that the volume on your videos is always VERY low compared to other videos
A good Ginger Beer is amazing, how do you ferment that?
Amazing informative video. Subscribed and looking forward to more episodes. Hopefully, we can get in touch, and I have you on my channel as a guest soon. Cheers.
I don't understand this video. In which part and where do you put all the ingredients like the cognac oil and peels and all that?
I was wondering about the essential oils as well.
You may want to watch his video on "how to make an herbal flavor extract" czcams.com/video/EvkbCkg9bPs/video.html as it will explain the process with the dropping funnel.
In short, here is the process:
1. Mix all of your dry ingredients together, if they are not granular, use a coffee grinder to make them roughly the consistency of ground espresso.
2. (Edit: not necessary, as everything that might expand is powdered) Dump 20ml or so of solvent into the bowl and mix it in. You want the consistency of wet sawdust, no pools.
3. (Edit: not necessary, as everything that might expand is powdered) Let the mixture sit for an hour or two, NOT more than that. This will start the extraction process and start the herbs expanding so that they don't do it in the funnel.
4. Place a cotton ball in the bottom of the dropping funnel. Wet it with a little solvent and tamp it down a bit so that it sits in place nicely.
5. Add 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup of washed white quartz sand and pat it down gently with a dowel.
6. Add moistened herbs/spices with a bar scoop or similar, pausing every 4 inches or so to gently tamp it down to remove air pockets without compressing it too much.
7. Repeat until all of the herbs/spices are in place.
8. Place a round cotton pad on top of the mixture and add a bit more sand to keep the pad down and to evenly disperse the solvent.
9. Dilute the alcohol to the desired ABV strength. Often this is 60-65%, but sometimes it varies depending on whether your flavors dissolve in water or alcohol or both.
10. Gently pour the solvent into the funnel with the stopcock open to prevent air pockets. Watch it work its way down, adding more as room opens up. This will take a couple of HOURS. Normally, with ground herbs, it takes a couple of minutes. I left mine alone for a while with the stopcock open until I noticed it dripping, then I closed it and poured the output back through so it could absorb more flavor.
11. As soon as it gets down to the cotton ball, close the stop cock.
12. Let it macerate for 24 hours.
13. Drain it slowly, 1-2 drops per second.
I am going to make this recipe in a few minutes and, after the dropping funnel stops dripping, I will use some of the solvent (or some of the extract, I haven't decided) to get the cognac oil suspended and then add the tincture of oil of rose and the cognac oil mixed in a little solvent to the final extract.
Cognac oil is so pricey and there is so little oil of rose that I'm afraid that enough won't pass through the sand filter, so this way I'll get all the flavor from it.
Darcy, if you read this and have any objections or clarifications, please add them.
What caps do you prefer for the Boston round bottles? Most of mine have the taperseal, but I'm unsure of washing and reusability with the two parts.
I typically use flat caps with a polyethylene liner, they can be washed many times.
Wasn't there any acid added to the ginger ale when it was mixed? Just nowadays any soda has either phosphoric or citric acid in it so I was wondering.
Yes, any acid (citric, phosphoric, etc.) works but often the acid was added directly to the drink. For example, using lime juice or Acid Phosphate. At the soda fountain, the recipe would often call for a few dashes of acid in the drink, but syrups were made without the acid because some colouring materials would change or degrade in the presence of the acid. Today most colours are acid stable, so feel free to add acid to your syrup.
@@Artofdrink thanks for the answer.
Another question if I want to replace ginger ale in a cocktail with this sirup and soda, do you have a recommendation of what would be the amounts of sirup and soda used? Like a Moscow mule for example calls for 4 oz of ginger ale. How much Sirup would I use?
@@TheMindpack typically it is 1 oz of syrup for an 8 oz soda, so for 4 oz your use 1/2 oz of syrup in 3.5 oz of soda, roughly, it doesn't need to be really accurate.
@@Artofdrink wow thanks for the fast answer. I made the the ginger tincture/sirup from the other video using fresh and powdered ginger only and I might use it for some cocktails tonight.
But I can see now that adding chili powder (and other ingredients) might be a good thing to dial in the spiciness, so at some point I will get all the ingredients for this sirup as well. Keep up the good work. I already learned a lot here. Since I'm from Europe I was not aware of the whole soda fountain thing.
Is it considered as an alcoholic ginger ale? Because you added alcohol to it
No, the alcohol content is less than 0.1% in the finished drink, legally anything below 0.5% is considered non-alcoholic.
Using vodka which is 45%abv will it work and what can be the changes in the result?